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Kenya blows up ship laden with drugs

Xinhua, August 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

Kenya's military on Friday blew up a ship that was found trying to sneak in heroin worth 200,000 U.S. dollars off the Kenyan coast.

Internal security Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery and Chief of General Staff Samson Mwathethe supervised the destruction of the drugs which took place at deep sea in the coastal city of Mombasa.

The ship was impounded while smuggling the drugs by Kenya Navy who were patrolling to Indian Ocean in April.

Five suspects, four Kenyans and Seychellois were arrested with heroin in the luxurious yacht worth 280,000 dollars. It's allegedly owned by a Briton.

It sails between Seychelles, Tanzania and Kenya in what authorities suspect its international drug syndicate.

This is the second vessel to be destroyed for allegedly involved in illegal drug trade.

President Uhuru Kenyatta in August last year destroyed a ship laden with heroin valued at 14 million dollars.

The MV Al Noor was blown up in the high seas as a sign of the government's tough stand against drug trafficking.

The coastal city of Mombasa has been cited in many security reports as a transit point for drugs headed to Asia and Europe.

Some of the drug lords have turned the Coast region into a drug haven, with thousands of young people addicted to heroin and cocaine.

Anti-narcotics police officers say most of the drug traffickers had also been avoiding airports for roads, which are poorly manned to traffic the drugs.

Most of the narcotics that are seized are cocaine and heroin. Statistics show police at the airport seized drugs valued more than 16.4 million dollars last year alone. Most of those arrested were passengers who were on transit.

According to latest police statistics, some 1,359 cases of drug trafficking were detected in Kenya in 2014 and 1,513 suspects arrested. Enditem